The algorithm is gonna get you. That’s why Nicole Perry, the cutting-edge choreographer and founder of Plantation-based Momentum Stage, is revolutionizing how we perceive and protect the art of dance in the digital age.
Perry’s journey began with a simple desire to find resources for teaching equity, diversity, and inclusion in high school theater and dance classes. This quest led to creating Momentum Stage, which has grown into a global community of nearly 1,500 members, offering virtual workshops and resources for performing arts educators worldwide.
Now, Perry and Momentum Stage, Inc. have been selected as one of 20 inaugural participants in the Doris Duke Foundation’s Performing Arts Technologies Lab. The initiative focuses on innovative digital technology applications in the performing arts.
The Lab, described as a first-of-its-kind accelerator, attracted significant interest from the arts community. An open call resulted in 745 applications from various applicants across 43 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, according to a release from the foundation.
The foundation was intrigued by Perry’s proposal to investigate the use of pose estimation and facial recognition technologies. What’s that you may ask?
The Momentum Stage project focuses on addressing concerns around non-consensual AI training and the potential misuse of performers’ likenesses in the context of dance and choreography.
Perry says artists’ work is essentially being fed to AI to train it and “it’s actually hurting the artist because we’re now making these AI applications to ‘replace’ artists.”
It’s happening in visual art, and it’s even more challenging, according to Perry, to put protections in place for live performance arts such as dance and theater.
“It’s a consent issue,” explains Perry. “Artists should be able to share their work, to sell their work, and to know that their work is theirs and that it’s safe. If they don’t want AI to scrape it or learn from it, or even if they’re fine with AI using it, they should at least be compensated for it.”
Collaborating with her partner, Pedram Nimreezi, an AI engineer, along with filmmaker Ed Talavera, Perry is developing a platform called Dancers.ai, set to launch in March 2025. This innovative project, which will use funds from the grant by the Doris Duke Foundation, aims to create a safe space for dancers and choreographers to share their work online without fear of AI theft or unauthorized use. The exact amount of the grant will be released when the contract is finalized, according to Perry.
Perry revealed that the concept behind Dancers.ai is inspired by a similar application for visual art called Nightshade, which “poisons the pixels” of digital images to prevent AI from accurately processing them. Perry’s shares that her dance adaptation is playfully dubbed “Totentanz,” which she explains is a German phrase for “dance of the witches” or “dance of death.”
Perry further explains how Totentanz, which is also known as T3, was crafted.
“There is too much information embedded in the digital image, so when AI tries to scrape it, it actually overloads it, and too much of the information is unrelated,” she says. “To the viewer, it appears totally normal but the actual encoding of the image is poison, and the application for visual art is called Nightshade like the poisonous family of vegetables. So I went with Totentanz so it was sort of inspired by their name. But we made it our own.”
The project’s first phase involves creating and filming three distinct dance pieces: a solo performance outdoors, a trio shot as a dance film, and an ensemble piece on a stage. These varied scenarios will test the limits of the software’s ability to recognize and protect different numbers of bodies in diverse settings.
Over time, Dancers.ai could essentially revolutionize how dance is shared online. Perry envisions a platform where dancers can upload their reels, choreographers can stream entire concerts, and audiences worldwide can purchase tickets to virtual performances – all with the assurance that the artists’ work is protected from unauthorized AI use.
But Perry’s mission extends beyond just Dance.ai. As an intimacy choreographer, she brings a unique perspective to the intersection of art, consent, and technology. Intimacy choreography, a relatively new field in theater, film, and television involves setting scenes of physical intimacy with the same care and professionalism as fight scenes or dance numbers.
“These moments are just as important to the story as a fight or a dance,” Perry asserts. “Why are these moments not treated with the same professionalism?”
This emphasis on consent and protection of artists’ work is a common thread throughout Perry’s career. From her early days teaching high school theater at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia to her current role training educators through Momentum, Perry has consistently advocated for artists’ rights and equitable practices in the performing arts.
As AI continues to advance, the performing arts face fresh hurdles. AI-generated dance moves, unauthorized use of recorded performances, and the potential for AI to replace human dancers in various media are all burning concerns on the horizon. Perry’s work with Dancers.ai could be the antidote.
“If we can prove it with dance, we can do this with theater and opera too,” Perry says, highlighting the potential broader applications of this technology.
While the project is innovative, Perry acknowledges it’s not necessarily profitable in the traditional sense. “The profitable thing is to figure out how to just steal people’s stuff for free and then sell it the other way,” she notes. “We’re trying to do the opposite of that.”
This commitment to protecting artists’ rights, even when it’s not the most lucrative path, is what sets Perry and her work apart. As the lines between human creativity and AI-generated content continue to blur, initiatives like Dancers.ai become increasingly crucial in preserving the integrity, value, and depth of human artistry.
As AI continues to play an ever-larger role in our everyday lives and art, Perry’s work reminds us of the importance of consent, fair compensation, and the irreplaceable value of human creativity. With Momentum and Dancers.ai, she’s not just choreographing dances, she’s choreographing a future where artists can thrive in the digital age, their work protected and their contributions valued.
Perry is looking for dancers to work as part of the new project and will be holding auditions in early November.
“This work is going to then generate a product that we hope will make money in the future. We want dancers to feel well-compensated now. We’re really grateful and appreciative that the Doris Duke Foundation thought that this project was worth pursuing and that they saw the same vision that we were seeing. . . . It’s groundbreaking.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Momentum Stage is looking for professional dancers for its new “Totentanz” project, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
WHEN: Auditions are Monday, Nov. 4 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at Creative Heart Dance Studio, 8221 Glades Road, Boca Raton. Rehearsals will be on Wednesday and Saturday in November and December. Some possible Mondays with a possible extension into January.
INFORMATION: Email
info@momentumstage.org or visit https://www.momentumstage.org/t3project
